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Friday, 8 November 2013

A Lost Age Of Innocence

A BBC Picture - In A More Innocent Age

The main picture above shows a front row from left of Peter Powell, Jimmy Savile, Dave Lee Travis, Noel Edmonds, Paul Gambaccini, Simon Bates, David 'Kid' Jenson, and a bit of either Tony Blackburn or Alan Leslie "Fluff" Freeman - all working for the BBC as Disc Jockeys in the 1960's and onwards.

A Rogues Gallery - 11 men, 6 accused of Sex crimes.

However when you look at the same picture with the hindsight of the last two years news, then an age of innocence is stripped away. I have added three more pictures of performers from the same period .... the bottom three are performers or ex BBC staff, Jonathon King (Presenter), Chris Denning (DJ), and Rolf Harris (Performer).

Dave Lee Travis - Arrested and charged with several counts of indecent or sexual assault - denied the allegations. Update: He was found guilty by a majority verdict of 10–2 of indecently assaulting a female researcher working on the Mrs Merton Show in 1995. On Friday 26 September 2014, he was sentenced to three months in prison, suspended for two years.

Paul Gambaccini - Arrested on suspicion of historical sexual offences as part of an investigation by Operation Yewtree in the United Kingdom - denied the allegations. Update: It was announced on 10 October 2014 that no charges would be brought.

Jonathan King,
was convicted of multiple sex crimes against boy minors and who was only caught when another former BBC radio 1 DJ, Chris Denning was arrested and charged with a string of sex offences against boys - he was known to King, and the police connected both to the grooming offences being committed at a disco known as the 'Walton Hop'.

Former BBC radio 1 DJ, Chris Denning was arrested yet again as part of
the Operation Yewtree in the United Kingdom - Denning helped launched
the career of Gary Glitter (another convicted sex offender) and later
moved overseas. Update: In December 2014, Denning was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.

Sadly even Rolf Harris has been arrested and charged with historic paedophile offences against young girls. Update: He was found guilty of all 12 counts of indecent assault and sentenced to a total of five years and nine months in prison for the offences.

These may not even be last of the arrests of men all seemingly connected with the entertainment industry ...... they were part of the background to mine and many others childhoods in the 1960's, 1970's and 1980's, and these arrests have stripped away many happy childhood memories. Sadly its not just the children who were allegedly abused whose lives
were ruined, but a whole memory of an age of innocence has been wiped
out for a generation, by the apparent activities of these men.